In the fast food industry there is a need to prepare a large number and broad menu of food products in a short period of time with high quality. When the food products include dough products such as bread or buns, it is particularly important to maintain moisture and temperature without making the bread soggy. It is also important to maintain color, texture and mouth feel of the bread product for the consumer.
The use of steam heat in food cooking apparatus is described in U.S. patent application, Ser. No. 08/929,716, filed Sep. 14, 1997, entitled "Apparatus and System for Conditioning Food Products" and assigned to the owner of this application. This application introduces steam from the bottom of a cooking chamber intended to condition and carmelize buns. The application mentions that one of the things to avoid in the use of steam heat is direct contact of water or condensate with the bun as this can cause unappealing whitish, gray or faded spots on the bun surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,701,340 discloses a pizza oven having three in line cooking chambers. Hot air impingement heating is used in the first and third chambers. The second or middle chamber uses hot air impingement on the bottom surface of the pizza and impingement by high velocity steam jets on the top surface of the pizza. The steam jets are provided from a plurality of apertured tubes arranged in parallel and above the pizza. Steam is provided to the apertured tubes from a conventional steam generator. The apertures are located between 1.5 and 2.5 inches above the pizza. The patent states that if the spacing is too close, the high velocity steam jets may blow the toppings off the pizza. In the cooking process, the steam condenses to form a layer of water on the top surface of the pizza. The layer of water is evaporated in the third cooking chamber.
Other patents, of which the inventor is aware, that disclose cooking equipment using steam heat include U. S. Pat. Nos. 4,159,675, 4,179,985, 4,197,791, 5,240,730, 5,367,951, 5,395,623, 5,501,142 and 5,603,255.
Another prior art cooking/finishing appliance cooks or finishes a food product by applying steam from above the food product. This appliance has a manual pump that pumps water from a reservoir to a steam generating chamber located above a cooking chamber. The water flashes onto a heated surface in the steam generating chamber. The steam escapes through an orifice on the heated plate into a distribution chamber. The distribution chamber has a distributor plate situated above the food product in the cooking chamber. The steam is then distributed through holes in the distributor plate into the food cooking chamber. Because the orifice is located on the same surface where the water is flashed, water that does not convert to steam may escape through the orifice into the distribution chamber and then through the distributor plate holes into the cooking chamber where it drips onto the food product.
An object of the present invention is to provide an improved method and food cooking apparatus particularly suited to melting cheese on a food product without the disadvantage of discoloring the food or degrading its texture.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method and a food cooking apparatus that uses steam heat to melt cheese or heat food portions without forming a layer of water on the food product.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a method and a food cooking apparatus that uses steam heat to melt cheese on a food product that contains bread without making the bread soggy.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an improved method and a generator for producing steam for food cooking apparatus.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an improved steam generator that is compact enough for table top cookers.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a novel and improved steam generator with a recirculating water supply system.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a novel and improved cooking apparatus with a recirculating water supply system.